Arthur Wragg

Who was Arthur Wragg?

Arthur Wragg was a British illustrator.

His stark poster-like artwork often dealt with themes of social alienation and spiritual emptiness. All his work was done for publication, rather than in 'fine art' media such as paintings or series of prints. As a result, he has been neglected in comparison with contemporaries such as Graham Sutherland and John Piper, but Wragg's choice of medium was an ideological one. As a socialist and pacifist, Wragg wanted his art to speak directly to common people rather than to art-lovers. His vivid, polemical style had considerable influence on other popular forms in the 1940s and 1950s, such as government information posters and advertising.

He was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester, and grew up in Harrogate, Yorkshire, along with his sister 'Amy Wragg, born 1898. ' He was the son of George Arthur Wragg from Sheffield, Yorkshire, and Alice Smethurst Eckersley from Salford,Lancashire. He trained at Sheffield School of Art before settling in London as a freelance commercial artist, in which capacity he was in continuous demand for the rest of his life.